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Stop the week: Shock exchange: They all hate Love Island

There is a practical joke, once popular among children of about 10 or 11 years old, in which the jokers stand about on a busy street and stare up at the sky. It doesn’t usually take long for a small crowd to develop, all craning their necks to see what everybody is looking at while the original jokers quietly slip away. Now there is a television equivalent of this joke: Celebrity Love Island.

Newspapers — especially tabloid newspapers — are the fuel on which shows like Celebrity Love Island depend. For weeks beforehand, it is eagerly anticipated. Who will sign up? Who will flirt with whom? Who will have the most furious rows? Who will make the biggest fools of themselves? Then just about a week before the launch, the posh papers join in: Who are these Z-list celebrities? What does this say about Britain today? Is this the dumbest television ever?